"Today the religion... is kept by an insignificant minority (approx. 11,000) in Iran known as Gabars..., by a larger minority (approx. 100,000) in India, and in other small communities around the world totaling approximately 254,000. "

Hezbollah

Iran

-

-

-

-

1996

Occhiogrosso, Peter. The Joy of Sects: A Spirited Guide to the World's Religious Traditions. New York: Doubleday (1996), pg. 460.

"Hezbollah (Ar. Hizb Allah, 'Party of God') is a fundamentalist Shiite set that came into being after the Iranian revolution of 1979. "

"Islam... In most areas there are no exact censuses, but approximate figures for the mid-20th century are as follows, by major groups:... in Iran and Afghanistan, 27,000,000; in Pakistan, 66,000,000; in India, 40,000,000... "

Table: World Jewry. "collected our data from from demographic and other academic studies, community reports, and up-dates in the general media... consulted with experts to verify findings before reaching our assessments and estimates. "

Kurds

Iran

4,521,280

16.00%

-

-

1970

Chaliand, Gerard (ed). A People Without a Country: The Kurds and Kurdistan. New York: Olive Branch Press (1993 - revised first American edition), pg. 96. [Original Sources: National Census of Population and Housing, November 1966, Tehran; Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, November 1971, UN, New York.]

"Table 1: The Kurdish Population in Iran "; 1970: Kurds in Iran: 4,521,280; % of Kurds in the Iranian Population: 16.

Kurds

Iran

5,190,400

16.00%

-

-

1975

Chaliand, Gerard (ed). A People Without a Country: The Kurds and Kurdistan. New York: Olive Branch Press (1993 - revised first American edition), pg. 96. [Original Sources: National Census of Population and Housing, November 1966, Tehran; Monthly Bulletin of Statistics, November 1971, UN, New York.]

"Table 1: The Kurdish Population in Iran "; 1975: Kurds in Iran: 5,514,800; % of Kurds in the Iranian Population: 16.

Kurds

Iran

6,000,000

16.67%

-

-

1993

Chaliand, Gerard (ed). A People Without a Country: The Kurds and Kurdistan. New York: Olive Branch Press (1993 - revised first American edition), pg. 211.

"Iran... is a multinational empire... Out of an overall population of 36 million, there are roughly 13 million Turkish-speaking Azerbaijanis, 6 million Kurds, 2 million Arabs and a certain number of Baluchis and Turkomen. "

"The Zagros Mountains are the home of several tribal peoples... Chief among them are the Kurds (7%), the Luri, or lurs (2%), and the Bakhtiari (2%)... The Kurds... live in the northern part of the mountain range... "

"The Zagros Mountains are the home of several tribal peoples... Chief among them are the Kurds (7%), the Luri, or lurs (2%), and the Bakhtiari (2%)... The Luri live in the central part of the range, in the region, in the region known as Luristan. "

"Mani considered Buddha, Zoroaster and Jesus as his predecessors. He visited northwestern India and during his missionary trips in the Persian Empire, favoured by King Shapur I, he must have become thoroughly familiar with the Iranian religion. If he died in prison (possibly in 274 AD) owing to the hostility of the official magians (fire-priests) who influenced King Bahram I, this does not mean that he did not integrate Iranian religious concepts into his system. "

"Mithra is an Indo-Iranian god, worshipped at least as early as 1400BC. In Hinduism he is praised as the binomial Mitra-Varuna. A hymn is also dedicated to him alone in Rig Veda (3.59)... In Persia Mithra was the protector god of the tribal society until the Zorostaris reformation of Persian polytheism (628-55BC). Mithra like the rest of the gods and goddess of the Iranian Pantheon was stripped of his sovereignty, and all his powers and attributes were bestowed upon Ahura Mazda... "

"The Persian social system was feudal... Mithras, who represented law and order, was the divine exponent of the Persian system as god of contracts and of all reciprocal relationships... 550 BC, perhaps considerably earlier, Zoroaster... fought passionately against polytheism and against Mithras... the doctrinal teaching of Zoroaster was gradually interspersed with elements of the older polytheism... After Darius, who died in 486 BC, the Persian kings were Zoroastrians. But the aristocracy probably contintinued to be attached to Mithras and the old gods... In the 4th century BC the Kings Artaxerxes II and III mentioned Mithra... in their inscriptions. But by this time, Zoroastrianism was the dominant factor in the blending of the two religions and we hear no more of the Mithraic bull sacrifice. After the destruction of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great nothing more is heard about the Persian worship of Mithras. "

"MITHRAISM: an ancient Iranian RELIGION worshiping the GOD MITHRA which became popular as a MYSTERY RELIGION in the Roman Empire, especially among soldiers. The THEOLOGY appears to have been a complex FORM of DUALISM. "

Naqshbandiya

Iran

-

-

-

-

1150 C.E.

Crim, Keith (ed.). The Perennial Dictionary of World Religions. San Francisco: Harper Collins (1989). Reprint; originally published as Abingdon Dictionary of Living Religions, 1981; pg. 723.

"Originally a tribe of Iranian nomads known as the Parni, the Parthians acquired the latter designation with Greek and Roman writers by seizing the satrapy (district) of Parthava in c. 247 BC. Their leader, named Arsaces, founded a dynasty of kings known as the Arsacids. Their new kingdom was wreested from the Seleucid government, which had inherited the Middle Eastern part of the empire of Alexander the Great. The Seleucid rulers continued Alexander's policy of Hellenizing the peoples he had conquered. This policy meant the establishment of Greek political and cultural institutions, including religious cults. "

"A very important question concerning the Parthian attitude towards the many religions current in their empire is that of their policy towards Zoroastrianism. This native Iranian religion, which was to be vigorously supported by the Sassanians, had existed in Iran since the 6th century BC. It seems to have been accepted in a modified form by the Achaemenian rulers, whose imperial dynasty was overthrown by Alexander the Great. The defeat of this native dynasty and the Hellenizing policy of Alexander and the Seleucids seem likely to have imperilled Zoroastrianism, or at least hindered its progress. The rise to power, therefore, of an Iranian dynasty, such as the Parthian Arsacids, would appear to have been providential for Zoroastrianism. The issue, unfortunately, remains obscure, for the original native religion of the Parthians is unknown, and the position of Zoroastrianism at this time is uncertain. "

"There is a tradition that a Parthian king, Valakhsh or Vologases, collected together fragments of the 21 books attributed to Zoroaster, which had survived Alexander's destruction of the Iranian prophet's works. However that may be, what evidence there is seems to indicate that the Parthians inherited and maintained what has been called 'a general Mazdayasnian religious predominance'. This means, in fact, that they continued the religioius situation that existed under the Achaemenians. For under these rulers, while Zoroaster's Ahura Mazdah was worshipped and Arta, the principle of cosmic good order, was exalted, the Iranian deities Mithra and Anahita were also acknowledged, contrary to the teaching of Zoroaster, and the Magi, the ancient Persian priestly caste, extended their influence. The Parthians were Mazdah worshippes and respected the Magi; several of their monarchs incorporated references to Arta and Mithra in their names. They were also fire worshippers... "

"The syncretism that characterized the religion of Partha is strikingly presented in its iconography. An impressive memorial to this is the colossal tomb of Antiochus I of Commagene (69-34 BC). As the inscriptions on the giant statues show, the following identifications of Greek and Iranian gods were made: Zeus-Oromasdes (Ohrmazd, the later designation of Ahura Mazdah); Apollo-Mithras-Helios-Hermes; Artagnes (Verethragna, god of war)-Heracles-Ares. The most amazing of all instances of Parthian religious syncretism, however, is a carved slab from Hatrah. It shows as its chief figure a bearded male deity in Parthian dress, armed with a heavy sword... Semitic and Hittite weather gods... Hatrah... Cerberus who guarded the Greek underworld... Atargatis... Mithraic figure... identified with Zurvan-Ahrmiman... "

"...the Near East provides another example of Protestantism as a tiny minority... Iran numbers at most 8,000 and Iraq fewer than 2,000 evangelicals, and there can obviously be almost no positive cultural impact in such circumstances. "

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